Huntsville - Lake of Bays Lakes Council

In many of these important areas, the Huntsville Lakes Council (HLC) has been instrumental in helping to educate and raise the awareness of both the public and our political bodies, so I will utilize its efforts to outline many of the issues for you. First, some brief background information.

The HLC was formed in the spring of 2003 after three years of informal meetings of local lake associations to discuss areas of mutual concern where it became clear that together we could help each other to keep our lakes great. Currently, 19 lake associations throughout Huntsville, Lake of Bays and Parry Sound District, several of which straddle municipal borders, belong to HLC and our numbers continue to grow. HLC became incorporated in 2003. Our mandate and purpose is:
· To identify and provide a single strong voice to lobby for issues held in common among the lakes
· To facilitate lake plan development
· To provide education on issues involving lakes and the watershed and
· To promote stewardship

We accomplish these goals through an active Board of 14 Directors representing many of our member lake associations, augmented by a few ex officio committee members. Much of our work is done through various committees, including three major ones: Policy, Communications and Stewardship.
Although our main focus is the Town of Huntsville, we recognize that many issues, like water, flow over several boundaries and we must be conscious of and react to their impact on the entire watershed. The quality of our water is not only an environmental concern; it is also a critical factor in the healthy economy of Muskoka. If lost, the financial repercussions would be permanent and widespread. Therefore, HLC regularly liaises with and lobbies various agencies and levels of government on watershed issues. To avoid duplication of effort and to be more effective in the community, we also work with other groups with whom we share similar interests such as the Federation of Ontario Cottagers Association (FOCA), Huntsville's Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) and the Muskoka Watershed Council (MWC). Directors from HLC sit on and work continuously with all of these organizations. In this manner, we are able to provide meaningful input on issues of importance to waterfront owners and feedback to our lake residents.

At the local level, HLC has provided extensive comment on the Town of Huntsville's new Official Plan. We developed a consensus document with our member associations, focusing mainly on the issues they identified as of primary importance to them and the need for Huntsville's OP to closely mimic that of Lake of Bays as many of our lakes share jurisdictions. HLC presented its document to the OP Review Team in 2003 at the beginning of the review process. In November of 2004, we hosted an information session on the contents of the evolving draft OP, open to all interested parties. In 2006, HLC reviewed the many drafts of the Town's new OP, providing comments on all drafts and seeking input from our members on each one. Many of our comments have been incorporated into the new OP and it is apparent that this excellent new document better reflects how important the environment is and what lake folks desire in the way of development, including the concept of the character of a lake. It also places appropriate importance on employment, tourism and housing. District passed Huntsville's new OP in October 2006. HLC will repeat the same review process with the upcoming drafts of the Comprehensive Zoning By-law, once again involving our members who represent many of this area's waterfront owners.

HLC has also reviewed and provided comment on many position papers and issues such as Huntsville's Parks Master Plan, the new Downtown Waterfront Park, and Guidelines for Site Plans and Over Threshold Lakes. Parks, trails, public access to water for all citizens, and site plan control for all waterfront development are important current issues. The need for sensitive night lighting that directs light downwards, providing illumination where it is really needed and shields our dark skies and noctural creatures from light pollution, not only in urban areas, but also in rural and waterfront areas, is another important issue.

HLC supported a mail-in vote for Huntsville that would have made it much easier for seasonal residents to cast their ballot. To better inform Huntsville residents of municipal candidates' positions on waterfront issues in particular, HLC developed and circulated a questionnaire to all 18 candidates, soliciting their responses to some of our issues such as how to ensure better public access to water; potential pollution from increasing numbers of geese; damage to our shorelines from higher water levels under the new Muskoka River Water Management Plan; deteriorating roads; the need for timelier garbage pickup for seasonal residents; protecting our dark night skies through sensitive lighting and our shorelines through landscape naturalization; protecting our waterways from agricultural pollution through setbacks and buffer zones; and how we can be assured that new by-laws will be enforced regarding site plan agreements, preservation of wetlands and stormwater management. We received responses from 17 of 18 candidates. The completed results were emailed with HLC's November newsletter to many lake associations and posted to our website at www.huntsvillelakescouncil.com on November 1st, 2006. Overall, the tone of responses was very positive and most candidates expressed concern and a desire to provide real solutions to many of the issues we raised. However, it was clear that many candidates did not grasp the need to implement sensitive night lighting, naturalized shorelines, agricultural buffer zones and setbacks and effective stormwater management for existing private lands. As most of our waterfront is already developed in Muskoka, retrofitting more environmentally friendly solutions is equally as important as ensuring that future development complies with these concepts.

Currently, HLC is working on several local environmental issues. We will be urging the Town and MOE to monitor the KWH Pipe site to ensure that no pollutants from the current plant or the property's former uses (old tannery tanks containing hazardous chemicals are buried underground here) are entering the Muskoka River watershed. We are lending a hand to the Madill Community Association in their struggle to stop the questionable use of soundsorb materials as a berm by the local gun club, as this is already affecting residents' air quality and could affect the potability of their drinking water and the water quality in nearby Lake Vernon. We are also assisting residents of the Deer Lake trailer park to lobby the Town of Huntsville and MOE to investigate alleged leaking septic holding tanks that could affect not only their water quality, but also that of Lake Vernon downstream.
We support lake associations, whenever we feel it is appropriate, in land use applications they oppose, both beyond and within Huntsville's borders. For example, we have provided ongoing support to the Peninsula Lake Association in its fight to stop the quarry development close to its shores, currently before the OMB. We supported Lake Vernon Association's application to the OMB in which they obtained appropriate site plan controls to better protect the wetlands from a four resident development on Robinson Lake, adjoining Lake Vernon close to the Big East River delta. We supported but unfortunately, less successfully, Fairy Lake Association's opposition to several condominium developments on its shores. We are supporting Lake Waseosa's struggle at the OMB to block development of three additional lots on its small lake that is already over the District of Muskoka's guidelines for acceptable levels of phosphorus. And recently, we offered assistance to the Magnetawan River Watershed Association in its efforts to set up a similar organization to HLC's for the Magnetawan watershed area.

At the District level, we have provided comments on the Muskoka Lake System Health Program and support for both the long range waste management and stormwater management plans. We also provided comments on Muskoka Watershed Council's draft papers on Road Salt Policy, Pesticides, Wetland Policies, Aggregate Resources and Air Quality. HLC's representative on MWC, (currently myself), attends and contributes to their monthly meetings and sits on their Communications Committee, working on various projects including the production of stewardship brochures (available at a nominal cost on request) and the Muskoka Watershed Report Card, which monitors the health of the Muskoka watershed. First released in July of 2004, the data is currently being updated and a new report card will be released in summer 2007.

Provincially, HLC commented on the province's new Clean (Drinking) Water Act and provided input to MNR regarding permitted uses within the newly protected Axe Lake Wetlands Conservation Reserve and the need to protect both this area and the Buck River from stormwater runoff when new bridges were constructed there. We lobbied, less successfully, against the closing of the Frost Centre at Dorset and the loss of Muskoka's northern designation. However, our support and that of others for the
groups WRAFT, (Waterfront Ratepayers After Fair Taxation) and CAPTR (Coalition After Property Tax Reform) has borne sweeter fruit and these groups have now created sufficient concern regarding the fundamental unfairness, volatility and inequities in the current property assessment and tax system in Ontario, that there is now hope that real change may follow the province's current two year moratorium on assessment increases. Why is this an important watershed living issue? Because
many of today's waterfront owners are not as wealthy as their ancestors who owned these properties generations ago. However, they often care greatly about preserving the family property and this environment for their heirs and are good custodians of the land and water. If they, often living on fixed lower incomes, are forced to sell their waterfront properties due to rapidly rising taxes, to wealthier and possibly less environmentally committed individuals, who then will carry the torch? John Kenny,
HLC's Director on the Taxation/WRAFT/CAPTR portfolio, can provide you with more information on this important issue.

Part of HLC's mandate is to facilitate Lake Plan Development. Why is it important? Many lakes are having their lake plans incorporated into their municipal Official Plans so they can have more influence on what happens on their lake, particularly in how future development affects lake character. The promotion of lake plan development is being accomplished in several ways. For instance, a lake that does not have a lake association will find it difficult to create a lake plan. Therefore, HLC developed a document on How to Form a Lake Association. We also work with individual lakes to assist them to do this (e.g. Bittern Lake in Parry Sound District and Otter Lake in Huntsvillle). Once a lake association is formed (usually in response to local issues of concern), it often decides that it should incorporate in order to better protect itself from liability through insurance and be able to participate in OMB hearings. HLC started by offering a seminar on Incorporation, Risk Management and Insurance and followed up by developing a Flowchart on How to Incorporate a Not-for-profit Organization such as a lake association. Both these documents can be downloaded, free of charge, from our website, or email us at for a copy. Many smaller lakes wish to develop a lake plan but do not have the financial resources to obtain professional help. So in 2004, HLC with financial assistance from Muskoka Community Futures, developed a Lake Plan Manual/Template to assist lakes in this process. It's available to our members free of charge and to outside organizations for a small fee of $15. To date, we have distributed over 75 copies throughout the province and beyond. We also offered a seminar locally on Lake Planning and at FOCA's request, at their Lakelands III Conference in Buckhorn in June of 2003. Currently, we are working on a Guide for Development Proposals, which should assist lake associations to respond appropriately to land use applications proposed for their lakes.

To provide leadership in the areas of education and stewardship on issues involving the watershed, HLC has offered several workshops on topics like Waterfront Living, Natural Shorelines, Invasive Species, Dark Night Skies, Benthic and Forest Terrestrial Monitoring, Beach Water Testing and Best Boating Practices. By linking with other groups such as MWC, MNR and FOCA's stewardship programs, knowledge is shared without duplication of effort. Lake residents are encouraged to participate in monitoring programs like the Lake Partner Program and Benthic Testing (affectionately known as "Bugs in the Mud") that monitor water quality. Muskoka Community Futures funded HLC's purchase of benthic testing equipment, which is provided free on request for use by lake associations. Willing volunteers can then annually scoop, identify and count the tiny insects living in the shallow areas of their lake bottom. This information provides data on lake health and sharing these results with government agencies provides them with a wider picture of our watershed and the ability to analyze water quality trends over time. This summer, HLC also began a series of monthly articles in the Forester, designed to inform local readers on various issues of interest such as many of the ones I have already mentioned. Watch for them on the editorial page, usually on the first Wednesday of the month.

So what are the most critical issues for Muskoka residents at this time? What can you do as an individual? Well...
· You can help our air quality by driving a more gas-efficient vehicle; reducing your use of electricity through energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs; turning down the heat in winter and the air conditioning in summer.
· You can lobby for better waste disposal systems and reduce, recycle, reuse and compost to reduce your own waste; make sure that your septic system is maintained and pumped out regularly; ensure healthy water quality and ecosystems by protecting your nearby forests, creating and maintaining a naturally vegetated shoreline and reducing your use of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides close to water. Urge your neighbours and local golf club to do likewise! Get rid of that grass to the shoreline and the geese will disappear too!
· You can pump out your boat's gray water at a recognized pump-out station; wash your vehicle, boat and fishing equipment away from the lake; and make sure you disinfect boats and fishing equipment when traveling between lakes to prevent the spread of invasive species.
· You can lobby various levels of government for better protection for our shorelines, forests, dark skies, watersheds and wetlands; protection of our air quality and environment from the effects of industrial pollution and acid rain; and preservation of our wildlife and their habitat from destruction and fragmentation.
· You can educate yourself on environmental issues and perhaps most of all, encourage the development of strong environmental ethics and responsible civic attitudes amongst all the residents of Muskoka through your own behaviour.

These are just some of the issues regarding living on or near the water for our generation.